Superman comic worth $100,000 found in walls of abandoned house

May 24, 2013 | 12:23 p.m.

Superman made his first appearance in “Action Comics” No. 1 in June 1938. It is considered one of the world’s most valuable comic books. (DC Comics)

Here’s something that might make you wish you had X-ray vision. A Minnesota man found a rare copy of “Action Comics” No. 1 in the walls of an abandoned home. Turns out, the Superman comic is worth more than $100,000.

David Gonzalez, 34, paid $10,100 for the dilapidated house with a torn-up roof in Elbow Lake, Minn., aiming to put his decade of construction and remodeling experience to use. While he was gutting the house for renovation, he found a comic book amid old newspapers that had been used to insulate the walls. The comic was from June 1938, and the cover featured Superman lifting a car over his head.

It was “Action Comics” No. 1, which marked Superman’s first comic book appearance 75 years ago.

How much turns out to be at least $137,000, the current high bid for the Gonzalez’s find on ComicConnect.com, a New York online auction house. The auction runs through June 11.

This is like a virgin comic in this instance,” Vincent Zurzolo, a co-owner of ComicConnect, told the Star Tribune. “It’s so hard for anyone to fathom that, in this day and age, you could still discover a comic book that nobody has known about because this book was in a wall of a house for more than 70 years. It’s pretty miraculous that it even survived and it’s only had one owner.”

Gonzalez’s comic would have been worth more if it weren’t for a family tiff; Gonzalez brought his in-laws to see the house, he told the Star Tribune, and his wife’s aunt excitedly grabbed the book. When he grabbed it back, the back cover tore.

“That was a $75,000 tear,” ComicConnect co-owner Stephen Fishler told the Star Tribune. After its decades as wall insulation, the comic book would have graded out at 3.0 on a 10-point scale without the rip, Fishler said. With the rip, it’s graded at 1.5.

Click through the gallery below for a look at Superman’s 75-year history.

Superman has been saving the world for more than 75 years. What follows is a salute to the Man of Steel, courtesy of the L.A. Times' and DC Comics' media libraries. (Credits, clockwise from upper left: Warner Bros., DC Comics, Associated Press and DC Comics. Center: Getty Images. Gallery by Rene Lynch.)

He goes by many nicknames, including "The Last Son of Krypton." We turned to DC Comics' encyclopedia for more facts -- some well known, some not so much -- about the world's most famous superhero. (DC Comics)

Superman's origin story -- as well as his artistic look and costume -- have evolved over the years with each reboot. But DC Comics documents one strain of his origin story thusly: The child Kal-El was sent to Earth by his scientist parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. (Wizard)

But Clark -- instilled with high moral ideals by his adoptive parents -- decided he would still use his superpowers to fight for truth and justice. One of the most famous Superman covers of all-time: Fred Ray's original art from the issue of "Superman" No. 14, in 1942, showing a signature wartime image of the "Man of Steel."
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

That cover? The absolutely adorkable mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, of course. He was played to perfection by the late Christopher Reeve in "Superman." The 1978 film was one of many ways in which Superman and Clark Kent made the leap from comic books to films and more. [For The Record, 11:29 a.m. PDT March 28: A previous version of this caption said the film was released in 1987. It was released in 1978.] (Associated Press)

He later met with the lovely and ambitious reporter, Lois Lane. She would come up with the name "Superman" for the high-flying man in tights. (Image from the movie "Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut." Warner Bros. Entertainment)

Another origin strain has Lex Luthor and Clark Kent growing up as friends -- a plot twist played up in TV's "Smallville," which starred Michael Rosenbaum, left, as Lex Luthor and Tom Welling as Clark Kent. The boyhood friendship is destroyed after Luthor's father is killed in a fire, according to one story.

Other Superman adventures over the years: He fought Muhammad Ali and lost. How's that? Because the fight took place on a distant planet whose properties temporarily rob Superman of all his superpowers, that's how. The battle was envisioned as a political statement, its creator, Neal Adams, told Hero Complex.
(DC Comics)

Superman is quintessentially American, but he is a citizen of Earth as well. In this issue of "Action Comics" No. 900, Superman renounces his U.S. citizenship because of his concerns that his actions are seen as instruments of U.S. foreign policy. (Associated Press / DC Comics)

In other adventures, Superman, DC Comics, and UNICEF joined forces to help in a mine-sweeping campaign in Bosnia. Private agencies and a NATO-led peace force distributed the comic book, showing Superman swooping in to rescue two boys hunting for war souvenirs, in order to get the word out about the dangers of mines. (Associated Press / DC Comics / UNICEF)

He has a genius-level intellect and almost unimaginable analytical powers. He can "read information directly from machines (and, with careful usage of his heat vision, he can even reprogram machines)," according to his DC Comics bio. (DC Comcs)

A Superman mural greets visitors to Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia for the Superman: Escape From Krypton ride. It's billed as the first ride to reach speeds of 100 mph, a feat theme parks had been trying to reach for decades. (Los Angeles Times)

While Superman usually gets top billing, he played a sidekick in "The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman," online-only shorts for American Express. In the films, the pair pal around, taking in a Broadway show and even fighting crime. (American Express)

Comments

9 Responses to Superman comic worth $100,000 found in walls of abandoned house

Cool story.
Not mad about the back cover torn by some greedy "beech". Really? What if she tore it in half? Not mad then? I would NEVER speak to that person again. I would hope the rest of the family treats Mr. Gonzalez like a saint from now on…

Leah: I’m about 99.9% sure you have a re print. There are only a handful of the originals left know to survive but the book has been reproduced many, many times. I would not get my hopes up at all if I were you.